Chapter 13

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One week later
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"It's okay, Lou." Liam smiled encouragingly. For the past week, I had been trying my utmost hardest to learn to swim, getting up early with Liam to get a couple of hours in before breakfast, and swimming practically all day.
For some crazy idea, Liam had swam off to the middle of the pool, and told me to swim over to him, while I stood dithering at the edge. "Just jump, and swim. No thoughts."
"I-" Tears rose in my eyes.
"No, ssh, it's okay." Already, Liam had wrapped me up in a hug, and was rocking me gently.
"I love you, Li."
"I love you, too, Lou." He kissed me, arms still around my waist. When I felt like I was going to burst from the lack of air, I took in a gasping breath against his lips, before swiftly kissing him again.
About thirty seconds later, I felt Liam's tongue swipe across my lips, and I quickly thought over it. I loved him. So, so much. There was nothing to be afraid of, so I hesitantly parted my lips.
Our tongues met, sparks flying in the pit of my stomach. Several minutes later, I drew back with a gasp, panting wildly. Liam's lips were slightly swollen and reddened, his hair mussed from where I'd ran my fingers through it, his chest falling and rising quickly.
"Love,you." Liam whispered.
"Love you, more." I smiled.
"Come here." He scooped me up, laying down on one of the sun beds, me resting against his chest. The pale, morning sun just warmed our skin, as I looked up at him.
Slowly, I shifted so I was laying directly on top of Liam, my arms holding me up on either side of his head. Liam grinned up at me, running a hand through my hair, then pulling my head down to meet his, our lips brushing.
We kissed lazily, hardly drawing apart for air. I was completely lost in the feel of his lips against mine, his bare chest pressed against my own, arms holding me safely, my heart thudding against my ribs.
It was with a yelp that we were both drenched in water, and I jumped. Our boyfriends were standing around us, amused smiles on their faces. "Bloody hell, you look snogged out." Niall hauled me up.
"You've been proactive." Zayn drawled, taking in Liam's must appearance, and mine couldn't have been much better. "We were thinking of going shopping, seeing as we're going back to school... Tomorrow."
"I kinda want to go back, and kind of don't." I shrugged. "I'll go get dressed."
"Breakfast is in fifteen, boobear, hurry up. You, too, Li." Harry smiled. With a returning grin, I focused on the air around me and flew into the air, just managing to support myself back up to my balcony.
"Show off!"
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We were going in and out of shops. Lela had given me two hundred pounds to spend, despite my extreme reluctance to take it. "I don't need it. Please, just make yourself happy with what you can. And, if you don't want it for yourself, get something for your boyfriends."
"I might get something for Finn. When he gets back." Was my reply, causing tears to rise in her eyes, and to give me a hug.
"Lou?" Zayn wrapped his arms around my waist, leaning his head over my shoulder, so he could kiss my cheek. "You done here?"
"Oh, yeah. I'll just pay for these." Giving him a kiss, I skipped over to the checkout, piling my clothes onto the counter. After I had paid, I picked up the bags and went to where my boyfriends were waiting by the door to the shop.
"We should go get some lunch." Liam reminded us, checking his phone. "It's nearly one already."
"Can we go to Nandos?" Niall's eyes lit up, and we all laughed, following him as he excitedly ran towards his favourite store of all.
I ordered a simple chicken salad, with a glass of coke to drink. We were all talking excitedly about everything and anything we could think of as we ate, until my phone rang, and they fell silent as I answered.
"Hey, Louis, how are you?" Lela asked me chirpily.
"I'm okay, how are you?"
"Oh, enough with the manners, you charmer. I'm fine, but I was just ringing because I thought you'd like to know we have a lead on Finn. It's being investigated, so don't you dare leave your boyfriends, but we'll hopefully, very hopefully, have good news by tonight."
"Finn's coming home?" I breathed, a grin forming on my face.
"No, Louis. I'm not giving you such false hope. Maybe, though. Maybe. Anyway, enjoy your day out, alright?" She was smiling too, I could tell.
"Thank you. I'll see you later!"
"Bye, Louis."
"Well?" Zayn prodded me.
"They've got a lead." I tried to hide my uncontrollable excitement, fishing around on my plate.
"He'll be fine, Lou. Even if he's not coming home today, it means they're making breakthroughs." Liam looked up at me, smiling gently. Harry linked his fingers through mine as we carried on eating, kissing my cheek, sending a silent message of encouragement.
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Meanwhile... In someone else's POV.
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Warning: ahead, there is description of torture. Please, don't read if you don't want to, and skip ahead until you see the stars, so you can carry on reading.
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"You little -" I hissed furiously, wriggling away as much as I could.
"Ah, ah, little girly. You've got to be good for your boyfriend over here." Tears swelled up in my eyes as I looked over at my unconscious lover, chained to the wall, his soft, blond, bloodied hair covering his face as his head hang limp. "Stay still, now."
"No. I won't." Thrashing wildly, I managed to knock the instrument from his hand, and his eyes blackened.
"Wake the boy up. Make him watch." Gradually, my one love was brought back to the living world, and he slowly raised his head, dull, pained eyes meeting my own.
A blow that nearly smashed my skull in struck, blood splattering to the ground as I screamed. He sobbed, unable to talk. Then, a knife was bought to my mouth, the corners of my mouth slit slightly, blood again dripping to the floor.
"Break her leg."
"Don't scream! Whatever you do, don't scream!" My lover yelled, eyes panicked before he was silenced with a hit upside the head. Cold metal surrounded my leg, and I bit down as hard as I could on my tongue, thinking don't scream, don't scream, don't scream.
Excruciating pain, and a scream tore my face in half, the cuts ripping open up to my ears, before I fell unconscious. "Trixie! Trix, no!"
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(Louis's POV)
Once we returned home hours later, there was the search party gathered in the huge reception room. We gave our bags gratefully to people who took them upstairs, before joining them.
"The rest of the team'll be back any minute, and we'll see the results of the lead." The head man nodded to us. I sat next to Lela, my boyfriends gathering encouragingly around me, as we waited anxiously.
"It was just this we turned up." Several people walked into the room, a grubby envelope in hand. "We haven't opened it yet."
"Louis, don't look, yet." Niall said softly in my ear. "Just in case."
"But-"
Liam slipped a hand over my eyes. "You can see if it's suitable." Nervously, I listened as the people put the envelope on the table, and it was opened with a rustle of paper.
Horrified gasps filled the room, and several people cried out in disgust. "What?" I pleaded, trying to duck around Liam's hand.
"D-don't look, Lou, don't look." He sounded terrified out of his life. "It's okay, everything's going to be okay." Instead, I delved into his mind, searching through his thoughts, finding what everyone was looking at in his current thoughts.
A picture had been printed out, of a rather familiar figure, who wasn't Finn. They were beaten, bruised, bloodied, but their face was angled towards the camera.
Her face was torn in two, blood soaking everything, her mouth visible through the gaping wound that stretched across the length of her face, and I knew what had happened. They'd given her a Chelsea Smile. "Trixie!" I sobbed, and Liam cursed.
"He read my mind." Liam whispered to our boyfriends as I broke down into a mess. They wrapped their arms around me, holding me comfortingly as I cried. Not only had they got Finn, they'd taken Trixie and tortured her.
"Check it for fingerprints, standard procedure."
"Get the boys out of here."
"Mrs Tomlinson, we're going to have to remove you from the room while we check the envelope."
"Boys, you have no place here currently. Out."
Strong arms carried me away, as the horrifying image was burned into my minds eye, flashing before me, unable to rid myself of the picture. "Everything's gonna be okay, Lou." Zayn murmured as I sobbed. Harry was also crying, so I reached out, tucking him into my arms, letting him cry into my shirt.
It had been over a week, and the only lead they'd got was a purposely planted one to crush our hopes, to make us less resilient and more hopeless to the thoughts of what they were doing.
They were torturing my brother, and my best friend.
And I couldn't do anything about it.

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